


By Her Side

by endeni



Series: Not the End [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Bittersweet, Blanket Permission, Force Ghosts, Gen, In Memory of Carrie Fisher, POV Female Character, Podfic Welcome, Wordcount: 500-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-18 00:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9354818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endeni/pseuds/endeni
Summary: When Leia dies, she's not alone.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> Technically a companion fic to [Force Through Time](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9353963) but it can be read on its own.
> 
> Written for [saturnofthemoon](http://www.archiveofourown.org/users/saturnofthemoon/) at [fandom_stocking](https://fandom-stocking.dreamwidth.org/).
> 
> Not betaed, so feel free to point out any issues. ;)

Anakin is dead but the Force never dies.

After, he is there for his daughter's wedding. He looks at Leia, splendent in white, always in white, at her brother and friends and comrades by her side.

It makes him think back of his own wedding. Him and Padmé, a secret marriage. Just like slaves used to do back home, on Tatooine.

Anakin Skywalker, serving under a master until his son freed him. He was born a slave, but his daughter is a Princess, of a world that no longer exists.

Anakin has brought so much pain and destruction to the galaxy and his children had to be the ones to put it to rights, to fix his mistakes.

So now, he watches, looks after his family the only way he can (and has ever been able to).

He is there when his grandson is born and he’s there when he kills for the first time.

Even now, his legacy is only pain. Anakin tries to reach Ben but the boy only looks for Vader, won't listen to him.

He watches his son go into hiding, watches his daughter resist. Just like her mother.

And then, one day, after her estranged husband is dead, after a resurgence of the threat posed by the First Order, his daughter falls to the ground.

It’s instantaneous almost, painless. She gets up from her seat in the command center and then her heart... stops, gives out. She drops on the ground.

There's an instant, a millisecond of conscience, of her realizing she's reached the end, a flash of fear. Or there should be. Anakin is there before it can happen, he holds her, keeps her safe in his arms.

He’s hasn't be with her for any of her life. In fact, his own existence only brought her pain. But this much he can do.

 _It's okay_ , he whispers to her as what is -was- Leia Organa leaves the confines of her body and is released into the Force. _Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid._

_  
_

* * *

  


Rey is there when it happens. One minute the general was talking and the next one there's drool at her mouth and Poe is barely catching her body as it falls down, calling her with an increasingly desperate voice.

Rey sees and doesn't see. Poe lies the general on the ground and starts doing chest compressions. “Someone call doctor Kalonia!” he bellows, frantic. Behind, above him, there's… a light, a presence. A tall, broad-shouldered man kneeling by the general’s side. He’s… translucent, equal part deep light and deep darkness. Long dark blond hair, a scar over his eye, an impression of terrible power in his gaze.

And then, he’s not alone. By his side stands a small, thin figure. She's dressed all in white as much as the man (man?) is in black and Rey is reminded of master Skywalker’s lessons, of projecting your conscience and how the image of yourself you identify with rarely matches your outward physical appearance. Master Skywalker’s is a few decades younger, clean-shaven, with short, neat hair and eyes still undefeated. And the young woman in white… Rey recognizes the firm, red mouth, the elaborate hairstyle. That's the general, she realizes.

She looks about Rey’s age, her hair still raven black. She’s looking at the man and her face is a pale, impassive mask.

The man raises from his kneeling position only to bend his head, bend his whole body, looking like he’s bowing almost, like a knight in front of his queen. Like he’s asking for a forgiveness he knows he doesn't deserve.

With a smooth movement, he takes off his dark cloak. The cloak glitters with the motion and for an instant it looks like a sliver of night sky, dotted with twinkling stars. Then, it settles into a deep iridescent blue, pearls studding its fine, light fabric.

Abruptly, a flash of an image: that same coat, worn by a beautiful woman. She’s lying dead, looking almost asleep, or as if she's floating in water. There are tiny white flowers trapped between her dark curls. She’s surrounded by thousands of mourners, come across the blue waters of her homeworld and from far away stars in order to say their goodbyes.

And Rey knows, without a doubt, that that woman is the general’s mother. Just like the man, holding the cloak in front of him like an offer, head bowed, shoulders hunched, is her father.

A desert man, Rey thinks, a water woman.

The general and her father stand like that, motionless, for what seems like an endless moment, surrounded by people frantically moving around and over the general’s body.

Two ethereal, intangible figures only Rey seems able to see.

Then, slowly, the girl in white, the general, extends a hand and takes the cloak from the man’s hand. With care, she fixes it around her shoulders, the fabric glinting as it settles down. Her chin is still raised high but her face seems to soften almost, her eyes becoming bright with a mix of deep emotions: resentment, longing, pain and, yes, tentative gratitude, hope. Rey finds herself unwittingly part of a moment too private to be witnessed.

A bright glint from the girl’s cloak blinds Rey’s eyes. The next moment, both figures have disappeared.

There are tears in Rey’s eyes, though she doesn't know why.

She’s crying like everyone else in the room, which has turned into a mad rush of pain and panic, even if she knows, she’s _seen_ that the general is fine.

 _Stops_ , she wants to say, _she's not there anymore, that's just a body now._

Before vanishing, Leia Organa had looked Rey straight in the eyes and curved her lips into a smile.


End file.
